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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066291">Different Kinds of Nightmares</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetfang/pseuds/Sweetfang'>Sweetfang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Movies 1984-1994), A Nightmare on Elm Street - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Dimension Travel, For Remake, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, attempts at humor were made, for Original at least</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:01:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetfang/pseuds/Sweetfang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The dreamworld was a lot bigger the Freddy could've anticipated. After being plagued by boredom after his latest defeat, Freddy stumbles upon a strange hospital room with a peculiar burned man who seems to share way too many similarities with him to be a coincidence.</p>
<p>Once he learns of the other's identity, Freddy also learns about their differences that makes them separate, yet the same.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/19802173">Dream Link</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetfang/pseuds/Sweetfang">Sweetfang</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Death was a peculiar phenomenon for the Springwood slasher. He had faced his first death with a smile on his face, taunting the parents of the children he had killed that he would return, and with the dream demons on his side – he did. By accepting their presence he was allowed into a paradise he could only have dreamt of; a place were he was able to truly act out on his threat and continue on his killing spree. Even if the dream demons never had come for him with their proposition that night, Freddy still wouldn't have changed how he presented himself towards the adults burning him to death. He still would've thrown jabs at them, insulted them and tell them that he would return even if he would've been unable to fulfill that threat. What else was he supposed to do, scream for mercy? Nah, that's a wussy way out, and doing so might make it look like he wasn't proud of what he had done.</p><p>So why was Freddy thinking about the circumstances of his death, you may ask?</p><p>Well, he was in quite an odd situation at the moment. He might be close to invincible in the dreamworld but he had his unfortunate restrictions, and the youth of Springwood also had some aces they could use to throw him off. With that he had been defeated again and Springwood was hellbent on repressing his very existence to the general public yet again, weakening him significantly. In this state he had no access to his victims and was confined to his world of dreams, hoping for an opening to make a grand return.</p><p>Time was hard to keep up with in the dream world without the help of the teens he usually hunted having a recent date stored in their memory bank. Without them he was clueless about present day. It sure felt like he had been stuck in the dreamworld for years now, and once he found this strange hospital room and saw the date "9/12/10" written on a liquid-filled bag, it all but confirmed his suspicion.</p><p>There were other details about the room that caught the killer's attention even more however. The fact that he had found this place was a surprise and he wasn't sure how he had pulled it off. Due to the utter boredom he had suffered through thanks to the lack of prey to hunt, he had started to wander aimlessly around the cloudy void that was the dreamscape, desperately yearning for something to happen. He had felt a bizarre surge some time before seeing this room in the distance, as if he had passed through something and had caught a lone shape in the distance. As he had approached the form he felt his powers wither away. It had discouraged him at first but he had chosen pressed on, his curiosity getting the best out of him thanks to his lack of mental stimuli. He did walk back a bit to see if his powers would return which they did, so he thought it should be okay to go - he just shouldn't stay there for too long. By the time he reached his target his body had turned transparent, making him look like a standard ghost. He even lost the ability to walk normally and he started to float slightly off the ground. His perspective of the room was that of a spectator. If he remained outside the rooms boundary he only saw the three walls that didn't face himself, an if he entered the room and looked back, the wall was magically there.</p><p>The most important discovery Freddy found here was however who occupied the room.</p><p>This was a hospital room for a patient; the first person Freddy had encountered for years now. The body was covered from head to toe in bandages, especially the arms, making it hard to see what the guy looked like. Freddy floated over to the front of the bed to spot out a name but all it said was "John Doe", rendering his identity unknown. The burned man went over closer to the patient's bedside to have a look at him and to his amusement he seemed to also be burned. Freddy chuckled mildly over the thought that the first person he'd meet would've been a burn victim like himself.</p><p>Freddy scanned the scenery. It looked like an average hospital room, various cabinets and medical stuff placed around the room, walls stark white and the patient himself had numerous bags hooked up to him, dripping different drugs into him. He even looked pretty out of it; the only eye not covered by the bandages didn't seem to focus on anything. It just stared into nothing particular and he didn't seem to notice that he had a ghostly visitor. Had it not been for the beeps of the heart rate tracker Freddy could've believed that the guy was already dead. The dream demon grimaced at the thought of being in a similar position.The fire might've been painful but it had been a relatively quick death. Here however, bound to a bed, drugged off his gourd and just waiting for a slow death made Freddy glad that he died the way he did.</p><p>He drifted behind the bed and cradled the patient's head in his transparent hands, making the man tiredly shift from lying slightly on his side to his back. He probably could sneak into his memories to learn about him despite his depleted powers. Was the guy even dreaming or was it all the drugs that allowed Freddy to come here? The patient couldn't be on hypnocil at least, that Freddy was sure of. Surely he could look into one memory, right? Freddy concentrated on getting into the man's memory bank. There were very few recent memories, probably because he would've have a hard time forming any in his dazed state. Freddy surfed around some the memories; he didn't even need to look into them to feel a sense of dreariness radiating from them, indicating a lonely life. He soon found one that seemed to be about his own fire experience and Freddy went with that one.</p><p>The scene was quite different from his own death, the man Freddy presumed to be the patient was running at high speeds away from cars and he took shelter in a nearby power plant, another interesting parallel with his own life. On the inside however, the man took a complete opposite approach on how to deal with his mob. He wailed, looked distressed and rejected every accusation thrown at him by the other adults. Freddy wouldn't have thought much about that until he saw the barricaded man remove his gray jacket, revealing a familiar striped sweater an people in the mob shouting out one word that threw one of the biggest curve balls he had ever heard.</p><p>"KRUEGER!"</p><p>Freddy imminently retracted his hands from the patients head, disconnecting from the memory. Freddy stared at the squirming person lying on the bed, bewildered by the revelation. He looked back at all the previously amusing similarities, the burns, the name. Was this supposed to be... him? That couldn't be, <em>he</em> was right here!</p><p>Freddy's wild thought train was interrupted by muffled sobbing. Freddy looked over the bed's headboard and saw this...other him slightly shaking and tears dripping down his uncovered eye. After thinking it through Freddy thought that as he had broadcasted the memory he might've accidentally shown it to the host as well. It was a quiet sob that lacked much intensity, but the heart rate monitor saw otherwise and started to flare up. Before Freddy could properly react to the alarm the patient started to stiffly spasm and wheeze. Freddy was conflicted about the individual. He was probably dying through heart failure and normally Freddy wouldn't really have cared, but this was certainly not a "normal" person. The idea of trying to help him strangely actually came into his thought process for a short second before being dismissed by the killer, as it made him look "too nice". Even if he chose to go along with that idea what could he even do? All he knew was to take lives, not give them.</p><p>As the monitor rang on the patient's movements started to slow down but he still cried, emitting a hazy sob periodically. Freddy felt no sympathy for him as the scene just looked kind of pathetic to him. He went down like a man who owed up to his actions and stayed on top. What the parents had thought could stop his rampage had only been fuel to the fire. This guy though? Starts bawling and refused to admit to whatever he did. Granted, he was unaware of the context that led up to the confrontation so he didn't know if that reaction was warranted or not.</p><p>Freddy observed the patients last moments of breathing as the latter suddenly directed his lone visible eye directly at Freddy's, their eyes meeting for the first time. Did he finally notice he was there? Freddy was unable to find out as the monitor finally let out an extended beep and the line turned flat, confirming the mans death. The eye contact broke after that and the patient's head rolled over to his side as he succumbed to an eternal sleep. With the patient death the scenery corroded and the Springwood slasher was alone again in the formless dreamscape again.</p><p>The burned man floated in the nothingness for a solid minuet before finally retreating back to his familiar grounds, gaining some of his depleted energy back in the process. Freddy was unsure on how to take all of this in, but he knew one thing.</p><p>Had the heart attack not killed the man, the medical bill certainly would've.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Rebirth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The mysterious patient emerges in the dreamworld and Freddy tries to be rid of him, not wanting to share his space. Emphasize of "tries".</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter has a bit of gore in the later half, just so you know that.<br/>I don't think it will be too prevalent though. At least on screen.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nothing really happened for some time, boring Freddy to no end as he had been left with more questions then answers after the whole ordeal. Had he just witnessed his "own" death or what was even going on? There were way too many signs that pointed to that this was unlikely a coincidence. Freddy sighed as he was unlikely to ever really know what that had been about. Now he was alone in the dreamworld again, desperate for some stimuli.</p><p>He was lying on a gray cloud, formed by the misty emptiness of the dreamscape, the boredom <em>really</em> weighing his mood down. So much so that if he accidentally fell off the cloud he wouldn't even really care to adjust his landing. His head felt as empty as the world around him and Freddy rubbed his unclawed fingers against his temples in frustration. His thoughts shifted to the mysterious copy of his again, probably to save itself from boredom-induced madness. Would he also come to the dreamworld like himself? Freddy didn't see the dream demons during his visit nor had he felt any unusual energy come from the man. Freddy wrinkled his nose as his mind was conflicted about the other guy showing up here. Would that mean that they had to share the dreamworld? The burned man grimaced at the idea of sharing this place with anyone. He preferred to keep all of his toys to himself after all.</p><p>Focused on his thoughts, Freddy was caught by surprise by a rough earthquake which almost shook him off his cloudy seat, but he was able to hold on. It didn't last for very long luckily and Freddy imminently chose to zoom over to the source of the tremor to see what was going on, as far as he knew he was not the reason it happened. Being used to the vast emptiness he didn't realize until it was too late until he crashed into a concrete wall and fell onto the ground. Rubbing his forehead and leaping up on his feet again, glaring at the mysterious wall he definitely didn't conjure up. The demon tried to make it vanish but it refused to budge, but he did spot a little opening in the bottom a few feet away from his current position. He was able to open the door and behind was a tunnel of some kind. When Freddy looked into the hole he saw a white spot by the end, indicating a new area.</p><p>Freddy squeezed himself into the tunnel to examine it but as he had crawled for about a foot in he felt a similar decrease of his powers like he had felt when he had approached the lone hospital room earlier. Freddy halted his progress, just staring towards the other end of the tunnel. Was that he was thinking about actually happening? The only way to find out was in front of him.</p><p>He climbed out of the passage and the area was stark white with no interferences. The dreamworld sported this look if Freddy hadn't warped the dreamscape in any way, like an empty canvas that he had to paint to fill out the details. He tried to turn the place black, summon pipes and even thought of the hospital room again but nothing changed. Freddy didn't get much time to take that in before another earthquake struck, causing him to fall over again. Unlike the first one however, Freddy picked up distinctive sounds of something cracking close by, making him bounce back up again and finding refuge in the hole he had just crawled out of. From there he saw the pale ground break apart, leaving a somewhat deep crater in in between the jagged floor pieces. A pool of blood started to fill up the newly made pit as the quake began to subside, hopefully for the last time.</p><p>The burned man carefully approached the red pool, observing the rippling liquid's glimmering surface. Now, Freddy wasn't somebody who spoke often about his weaknesses and worries, but that he was incapable of influencing this part of the dreamworld gave Freddy some threatening implications about how bad of a situation he really had found himself in. He refused to elaborate on the thought any further. The only acceptable thing he could do was to restore his powers and recover from his confinement, anything else was a weak way to go.</p><p>The pool began to emit some rogue bubbles and Freddy had already mentally prepared on what could come next. He might've will this by accident. A blood drenched hand reached out from the pool, grabbing onto the edges as Freddy backed away from the spectacle. Slowly a person climbed out of the red liquid, weary on his feet, he collapsed on the white ground, splattering blood around his frame.</p><p>It stayed quiet like that for a solid five minutes before the newly arrived body let out a wet cough and started to rise up on his knees, holding the arms down for stability. During it all the blood cover began to harden and crack apart, falling off the body and onto the floor, revealing the only person Freddy could've thought of as the body's identity – the patient. He was still in his hospital garb as he finally seemed to collect himself and look around, his uncovered eye landing on the man standing a few feet away from him. Freddy wasn't really sure on what to do at the moment but gave the newcomer a stiff wave.</p><p>"Why hello again..." Internally that sounded undoubtedly stupid to say but Freddy felt a need to say something. Too bad he didn't have anything in his surface vocabulary that could help him with more civil socialization.</p><p>He received no answer and he fell over on his side again, ceasing movement. Freddy walked over to the patient to check him out. Freddy picked up one of the arms, wobbling it around a bit. Did the guy pass out or something? Freddy wasn't really sure. But like that matters anyway, he needed to get rid of the copycat as quickly as possible. With his presence he was taking up precious territory and in this delicate state he was already in risks were a precarious choice.</p><p>Freddy hoisted up the passed out patient into a sitting position, exposing his stomach. He might lack most of his abilities at the moment, but he always had his trusty claws and they were itching for something to slice. He aimed straight into the gut, through the fabric and into the flesh. Digging further he managed to grab hold of the spine and drag it out the body, breaking it with a loud "crack". The burned man pulled back and observed his work. Freddy didn't usually like to do quick kills, but sometimes he had to get things over with. Now all Freddy had to do was to wait for what he fea- er... hoped not to be the case.</p><p>Unfortunately for him the wounds began to heal up. The spine connected again and retracted back to its original position, as did all the blood and flesh torn out during the assault.Soon all the damage Freddy had inflicted had been nullified.</p><p>Freddy's ungloved palm slapped against his face. Of course they guy would have a healing factor here in the dreamworld. After rubbing his temples for a moment, a very questionable idea lit up in his thoughts. With a devious smile Freddy grabs hold of his copy's wrists and drags him back through the tunnel, feeling his powers coming back and energizing him to his very core. Back home Freddy held out the unconscious body up in the air in front of him at an arms length, suspended in the air for easy acess. With his hands now free he grabbed his upper and lower jaw with his hands and tore them open, extending his mouth far wider then a natural human and causing his cheeks to rip apart to allow for such an enlargement.</p><p>After the transformation Freddy looked at the body dangling in front of him. It was noticeably smaller them himself in height and seemed a bit thinner as well, probably because of his incapability to exercise during his hospital stay. Freddy's tongue had also grown in length, but not to the extent of the lower jaw, but it still tried to lick the lower lips in anticipation.</p><p>He should just be a bite-sized morsel...</p><p>----</p><p>Okay, this had been a very <em>terrible</em> idea...</p><p> </p><p>It had been quite fine at first. It had just felt like he had eaten a large meal, something he hadn't done in a long time due to his lack of need for food. That feeling of fullness however took a bad turn the more time ticked on. Freddy began to feel nauseous and his body began to cramp severely. his gut felt distinctly hard like he had gulped up a stone rather then a person. He hadn't experienced something like this ever since he had been an alive human which made him hate the situation even more. The killer pinched his hooked nose, wondering how he even came up with this plan in the first place. He was pretty sure it came from the idea of trying to absorb him into himself as normal methods weren't viable. He had forgotten to look for possible mishaps and well, now he had to suffer the consequences for his recklessness.</p><p>As Freddy was waddling over to a seat for some comfort he felt some kind of impact within himself, making him jump slightly in recoil. Was his copy trying to escape? Freddy was stuck in a tug of war on what to do and for a appropriate reaction. Normal people would panic and scream, maybe even rush to a hospital for assistance. Freddy however wasn't that kind of person and refused to put himself in a position were he is on the lower end of a power struggle – so he just kind of sat there unable to really so much. The pressure within kept on building like it wanted to burst open his stomach. Without really thinking Freddy punched the underside of his swollen gut with his flesh hand, which seemed to accelerate the process and all the built up tension surged up his throat.</p><p>Freddy felt sweaty and exhausted as he fell on the floor, thankful that the ordeal was hopefully over. His body was rigid and refused to obey. So he laid the on the cold floor, right next to the gory pile of mushy flesh and blood he had spewed out of him. Licking his crimson covered lips he was ready to just lay there for a while, but suddenly his chest began to spasm which made Freddy's hands instinctively slam at his chest. At first Freddy thought he was about to puke up left over fabric based on the scratchy texture he felt in his throat, but no. Soon a bony serpentine being peeked its head out of the burned mans mouth hole. It had some blood smeared on its head.</p><p>"Was that <em>really</em> necessary!" it cried out irritated at its hosts recent choices of actions. As the snake flew out of Freddy's mouth the throes began again two times, each for the remaining two demons that fluttered out of Freddy's mouth. Freddy just about had it by this point, but he knew it was even dumber to pass out on the three who gave him his powers to begin with – the dream demons.</p><p>Oh yeah, they tended to be inside of him most of the time, but could you blame Freddy for forgetting them half the time? They had a hands off approach when it came to their little "alliance"; they gave Freddy powers and let him do whatever he wanted with them. A very fine deal for Freddy indeed.</p><p>He climbed his way up on his bottom and waited impatiently for their words. The middle one finally spoke with a booming but calm voice as it levitated in front of the burned man:</p><p>"Krueger, we expect you to at least partially understand what made that plan completely nonsensical."</p><p>"Yes..." Freddy murmured as he crossed his arms and turned his eyes towards the floor next to him, like a child being scolded by its teacher.</p><p>"Now now, no need to sulk." The middle demon let out a quiet chuckle in response, whipping slowly with its bony tail. "Its not your fault that you don't know the full context of the situation you've walked into by finding an alternate counterpart of yourself."</p><p>"Sure whateve-" Freddy froze up after his brain processed the last part, his lips forming an upside down "U" and his eyes widening. "Wait what? What do you mean by 'alternate counter part'."</p><p>"Surely you picked up on the fact that he had way too many similarities to you for them to be a coincidence? Well that's because he technically is you, just from a different universe." The demons poked with their tails towards the the invincible wall in the distance. "That's what the wall is there for, pass through it and you cross over to this other Freddy's universe, not too hard to figure out, yes?"</p><p>"I guess...." Freddy tiredly pouted at his companions. The demon to his left chimed in:</p><p>"We would advice you to bring back the remains to his world and avoid unnecessary conflict for the time being,"</p><p>"Can't I just try and take over his place or something?" Freddy retorted back. It sure sounded like a nice strategy. Find a way to recover some energy in that other world and bring back that strength to his own home field to escape his current confinement. Plus, twice the amount of people he could hunt!</p><p>The dream demons shook their heads. "Not possible, you know you loose even more power as you go there and nothing can reverse that." The left demon looked over towards the remains of the other Freddy, tilting its head slightly. "He might have a different source then you that powers him, as such he only functions in his world and the same should apply to you."</p><p>"Not to say that you two can't interact with each other!" The right demon interjected with an unusual dose of enthusiasm. "It could certainly work as a decent time waster until a better opportunity to reach Springwood again arises."</p><p>"Well you sound excited," he left demon smirked at its fellow comrade, causing the latter to coil up its elongated body , letting only its eyes peak over its body.</p><p>"I was just curious about the differences between them." It looked over at Freddy and their eyes met. "You saw a bit how he behaved and how his death heavily deviated from yours, maybe there are more to it then that?"</p><p>Freddy raised a burnt brow. He did remember that scene and had been somewhat baffled by how his counterpart had handled the situation compared to himself. Maybe there was something worth checking out? If the other Freddy continued to act like a chicken in other times of peril, at least Freddy could feel better about himself.</p><p>"Yeah, Yeah, I'll bring the clone back," Freddy muttered, summering a 1-gallon bucket hat he telepathically filled with the remains of his counterpart.</p><p>"Good" the middle demon approved along with the other two. "Inter-dimensional activity are not to be taken lightly and should be done with care." When the demon was finished it dived towards Freddy's stomach and dissipated, with the others following suit.</p><p>"At least they didn't take the same way back..." Freddy thought as he brought the bucket back through the tunnel and back into the white void. The crater and all the blood splatter was still there surprisingly, but Freddy got little time to think about that as he began to hear slimy sounds come from the bucket. As he looked down he saw the red flesh pieces quiver as they tried to stitch themselves back together.</p><p>Freddy poured the contents of the bucket out on the ground and it landed with a wet splat. Now it really got started as the flesh pile began to grow in size and form limbs and a head. Soon the patient was back intact as if he hadn't just been eaten some time prior, still wearing his hospital outfit. He let out a yawn and sat up on his bottom, stretching his arms and finishing with rubbing his eyes, even if one was covered by bandages. Once he was done he sleepily looked at Freddy, tilting his head out of tiredness. Freddy looked intensely at his other self as he wearily tried to stand up. His desire for balance caused a blocky stalagmite to quickly rise from the ground close to his tangled feet. Its speed startled its summoner and he fell over on his back again, something Freddy was unable to hold back on, so he let out a blaring laugh as his counterpart'd face was colored with bewilderment. Freddy stopped himself when the other Freddy finally grabbed hold of the recently summoned pillar and managed to stabilize himself.</p><p>Maybe this could be interesting after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The stuff I will try to compare the two Freddies will mainly be thing in the movies, but there are going to be some places where I will need to use some headcanons, especially with Remake as we don't know as much about his backstory as Original because he never got to the movies that revealed the corresponding information.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Stability</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Manipulating the dreamworld and the powers that were bundled with it came naturally to Freddy, but his alternate self seems to have something holding him back.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were few things Freddy would admit he loved, but the endless variety of powers the dreamworld offered him was something to gush about – at least internally. What he could do in there was almost endless: "Almost" as in he wasn't sure if he had discovered all of his dream abilities yet; it was an ever growing collection the more power he obtained.</p><p>A change in scenery? Only required a short thought and the world reflected what he had envisioned. Shape shifting? In a flash! Erasing pain? Easy peasy. Peering into the teenagers thoughts and fears? Almost cheating, but oh so fun! He remembered how excited he was when he learned about his possession ability. It had been the basis of a plan early into his dream career that ended in failure, but he was pleased with exploring with that power, even if that event didn't end as intended. He had all the time in the world to work on his techniques. He perfected possession later and had some fun with it, like possessing that fake psychic Mara Ruleen for example.</p><p>Whatever he wanted to do in the dreamworld was like an easy click on a remote. All he needed to do was a simple thought and it obeyed his commands. Simple as that; no obstructions needed.</p><p>His counterpart however...</p><p>His other self's grip over his world was an odd one. Granted he hadn't been there for too long so he might need to learn about controlling his powers. Maybe there was a time he himself completely lacked control over his own world. He honestly couldn't remember how it was like when he first got to the dreamworld. Even going back through his memory bank the years between his death and when he began hunting the children of Springwood as teens. It had confused him at first, but Freddy felt it wasn't too necessary to grumble on. The past was the past.</p><p>His alternate self seemed to have grasped the <em>idea</em> of his new abilities. He could create various things, change the dreamscape and his own appearance and all that. Sometimes though, when he tried to use his powers it ended up flickering like static, showing glimpses of something else. If he altered his dreamworld, it would be stable for a while, but it would soon fizzle into another scene, probably unintentionally given the other Freddy's negative reaction every time it happened. After that it would usually go back to the white void and he would act all gloomy and try to be by himself.</p><p>Freddy observed his other self for an extended period of time to see what could be the cause of his lack of stability and he caught some unexplained behaviors. His counterpart never succeeded in suppressing his physical discomforts. It hadn't taken Freddy very long to notice the limp his other self had and his extra precautions to avoid putting any pressure on his bad leg. He didn't seem to try to remove the pain, something he himself could do at a second notice. It was something he <em>had</em> done in such a long time he almost forgot at time what pain felt like. He did get his remainders if he was dragged out of his dreamworld though.</p><p>The utter refusal to remove his bandages was another strange quirk about him. Did he know those were useless now or did he still believe they were necessary to shield his molten skin from infections - stuff that were impossible for a dead man to get? Did he know he was dead? Or just still thinking about his past? If so, then that could be the explanation for the lack of complete control. For Freddy, he refused to let his past hold him down.</p><p>"You know you're dead right?" Freddy decided to test his theory one day during his visits over the wall. It didn't hurt to ask, even if his neighbor had been proven to be the quiet type. "Just forget about the pain and it will stop."</p><p>The other Freddy stirred. He had tried to summon a familiar red and green striped sweater after a moment of fascination with Freddy's own wardrobe, but it had by now transformed into a small pink dress, of all things. The charred man had no idea what sort of connection the dress had with his other self, but it must've been a strong one as the other Freddy got startled by its arrival but he didn't erase it. Its summoner stared at the bright fabric, getting it entangled in between his pointy fingers as his eyes widened by the second. His hands began to subtly shake and Freddy thought that they guy was going to tear the dress apart, but he just fell on his side, mumbling unintelligible babbles in a notably gruff voice, much different from the softer and lighter one he had heard in the memory.</p><p>"Still holding on? Freddy closed in on the distressed man, continuing with his inspection. "This place is all about reflecting what you <em>truly</em> feel and mental turmoil will only cause disruption, at least that's how it works for me." Freddy knelt close to his limp counterpart, taking hold of his band-aided head. The white wraps had started to deteriorate over time; the previously white wrappings filling with red blood from various wounds still leaking out fluids. Another ting he hadn't adressed with his powers.</p><p>"I-I c-can't." The voice was weak and sounded like it was at the brink of despair, even his heavy breathing was louder then his words. "N-Not after w-what they did to me..."</p><p>"Vengeful are ya?" Freddy smirked. "Wanna make some piggies scream?" Freddy would in all honestly gladly watch this guy attempt to kill someone. Based on all he had observed about him he came across as a meeky man who couldn't even hurt a fly, even if he wanted to. Was he really a cold hearted killer like himself? If he said he was 100% innocent Freddy would've instantly believed him. He would then declare this alternate reality as the opposite of his. He just didn't come off as a man who could take a life, but he would definitely not mind being proven wrong on that, or just get an amusing slideshow of failures.</p><p>His other self began to wobbly sit up, ever so careful to avoid putting weight on his broken leg. When in position he stared directly into Freddy's eyes and gave a barely noticeable nod. Freddy could see the first sign of life in his only visible eye. A cloudy orb that was much different from his normal looking green eyes. Freddy grinned at himself. A devious little plan had just lit up in his head.</p><p>"Well then". Freddy rubbed his hands together in anticipation and followed that up by gesturing towards his counterpart's wounded leg. "How will you carry out this revenge? I don't think they're gonna be scared of a crippled mummy!" Freddy could only imagine the blush hidden behind the band-aids and ruined skin. His other self tired to stand up with a bit more determination burning in his face but his effort was met with failure as he just fell over, impaired by his agony.</p><p>"Heh, I can only imagine how the people are laughing at you right now, they got away burning you with no repercussions," Freddy taunted hoping for the right reaction. He lacked insight into his counterparts past so he wasn't sure if the right buttons were in his reach and he had been blocked from entering the latter's mind, but he could certainly try to worm his way in. The killer could already see faint gray fumes emitting from the bandages, attesting his progress.</p><p>"The parents are probably soooo happy that you're dead!" Freddy continued, getting really into his provocations by making big movements with his arms and enhancing the tone of his voice to sound more dramatic. "Now they and the kids can live all delighted to know you will never bother them ag-"</p><p>"I do not care about the parents!" Freddy's yappy lips got completely compressed by his alternate's hand that had suddenly launched itself at his face. This swift movement escalated into him being overpowered and</p><p>"It was the kids who backstabbed me..." Freddy was somewhat taken aback by that statement. He had many vile things to say about the children in his version of Springwood, but "backstabber" was not the first word that would came to mind.</p><p>"Backstabbed, you say?" Freddy questioned, feeling himself itching closer to his goal. "Care to explain that, Junior? I think our backstories have some significant deviations between them."</p><p>It took a solid moment of quietness before his alternate responded, still worked up. "Maybe I will!"</p><p>With that his head combusted into flame, causing him to instantly get off Freddy and run around screaming his poor sooty lungs out, all the while Freddy remained on the floor cackling at the spectacle.</p><p>He loved it when things went his way.</p><p>"Remember what I said about this place, its only an illusion! The dreamworld put you on fire because you focused on it." Despite his laughing fit Freddy was able to cough up a remainder for his stressed out counterpart who was still running around like a headless chicken, that could somehow scream. "You focused so hard on it you forgot about your limp. Now put yourself out and stay up!"</p><p>After his lungs began to cramp from all the howling, Freddy managed to calm himself down enough to notice that the dreamscape was turning into a shade of blue. With a wet drip hitting his cheek he understood what action his alternate had chosen to take. Could he do it in a controlled manner?</p><p>No, not really. The ensuing waterfall did put out the fire but his frail feet also slipped on the now wet floor, making him tip over – again. Freddy rose to his feet to inspect the recently drenched man. Luckily he didn't knock himself out with that hit to the had, indicated by his anguished squirming, but that was not what Freddy was looking for. The flame had scorched his hospital garb somewhat, but had completely incinerated the bandages, and so he laid there, his face bare for the world to see.</p><p>It was burned like Freddy had thought, but not in the same manner as his. His burns had been compared to pepperoni pizza in the past, but with this guy, lasagna came to mind. Unlike himself where the exposed spots of inner flesh were spread all around his face, particularly large gashes were primarily present in his counterpart's cheeks. His face in general was slimmer and had a more melted look then his own, with really pronounced cheek bones. Freddy wondered if his other self's long stay at the hospital was why their burns were so different. The remains of the skin felt leathery as Freddy began to poke at it with his ungloved fingers, much to the other's chagrin who had now opened his eyes, revealing a case of heterochromia. The misty eye hid away a pale blue iris within its cloudy obstructions, while the previously hidden one was bloodshot with a red iris. </p><p>All in all, he resembled a mummy and without the bandages he looked no different. Not like that surprised Freddy or anything, but his counterpart was giving him a heedful look as he held his head in a rather cautiously; waiting for some kind of response to the unveiling.</p><p><em>"Well then, let's break it to him!</em>" Freddy thought as he knelt next to his alternate self's head with a cheeky grin and cleared his throat, just for dramatic effect.</p><p>"You looked better with the bandages on, honestly."</p><p>Freddy began laughing again as his other self began barking garbled noises and slam his fist against Freddy's chest. He could get used to these shenanigans!</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The stuff related to the "Mara Ruleen" stuff is a Freddy's Nighmares reference, just in case you didn't know about that.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you have read a story on here called "Dream Link" and thought this one was really similar to it then you are not wrong. Dream Link was my first fanfic I made back in the previous summer, I think. I was supposed to come back to it but after all this time I reflected on it and came to the conclusion that I don't really want to continue with it anymore. I just went with the premise with no further planning, making it feel kind of clunky to me. So I decided to rewrite the idea again. At least this time I have a focus of sorts and I will try to structure the fic so that each chapter feels like a one-shot of sorts because my brain seems to prefer such schedules. Not to say that the chapters will have zero connection or anything.</p>
<p>Now this leaves me with what to do with the older story. I'm normally against deleting fics outright (many fics I liked to read in earlier years have been lost because of it ;-;), but since I am basically remaking it, would it be okay? It it does have a couple of kudos on it which would indicate that at least some people were fine with it, maybe? </p>
<p>I don't know really.  I will keep it up for now until I've managed to get somewhere with this fic.<br/>I have way to many plot bunnies to deal with first though.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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